Agricultural self-propelled harvesting machine

ABSTRACT

In an agricultural self-propelled harvesting machine a hingejoint connection of the fixed frame with the movable frame which carries the working members, said hinge-joint connection enabling the movable frame to turn both round the longitudinal and the transverse axes of the machine. The front axle of the machine carries stop blocks upon which the cantilevers of the movable frame are free to rest, said stop blocks enabling the movable frame to move both horizontally and vertically depending upon the variation of the front axle position.

Unite States atent Tatianko et al.

[ 51 May 23, 1972 [5 AGRHCUL 1'4. \2 SELF-PRQPELLED HARVESTING MACI-HNE[72] Inventors: Nikolai Gagarina, 175, kv. 43; Alexandr GavrilovichTsymbal ulitsa Naberezhnaya, 9, kv. 4; Vladimir Vasilievich Stetsenkoulitsa Kharkovskikh divizy, 5, kv. 118; Sergei Alexandrovich Isikovulitsa Matrosova,

8, kv. 49; Fedor Leontievich Rodenko poselok Zhikhor, ulitsaTsiolkovskogo, 4; Alexandr Samuilovich Betcher ulitsa Bairona, 175, kv.133; Petr Dmitrievich Shamrai prospekt Gagarina, 163/4, kv. 30; MikhailAfanasievich Dulya prospekt Gagarina, 163/4, kv. 32; Viktor VasilievichDudka prospekt Gagarina, 163/4; Ivan Petrovich Klimchuk ulitsaPyatigorskaya, 8, kv. 76; Anatoly Mikhailovich Dolgov, prospektGagarina, 169, kv. 89, all of Kharkov, U.S.S.R.

[22] Filed: July 15,1970

[21] Appl.No.: 55,160

52 US. Cl 1/ss, 56/14.7

Vasilievich Tatianko prospekt' [51] lnt.C1. ..A01d 25/04 [58] FieldofSearch ..56/6, 10.2, 10.4, 11.9, 12.7, 56/13.6,14.9, 15.3, 15.6, 15.7,15.9,17.1, 14.7;

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,972,850 2/1961 Ariens eta] ..56/15.6 3,483,684 12/1969 Price ..56/l5.3

Primary Examiner-Antonio F. Guida Attorney-Waters, Roditi, Schwartz &Nissen [57] ABSTRACT In an agricultural self-propelled harvestingmachine a hingejoint connection of the fixed frame with the movableframe which carries the working members, said hinge-joint connectionenabling the movable frame to turn both round the 1ongitudinal and thetransverse axes of the machine. The front axle of the machine carriesstop blocks upon which the cantilevers of the movable frame are free torest, said stop blocks enabling the movable frame to move bothhorizontally and vertically depending upon the variation of the frontaxle position.

2 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures AGRICULTURAL SELF-PROPELLED HARVESTINGMACHINE The present invention relates to improvements in farm machineryand equipment, more specifically to an improvement in an agriculturalself-propelled harvesting machine intended for gathering root or tubercrops.

Widely known in the art are wheeled self-propelled harvesters featuringa fixed frame and a movable frame hinged thereto and carrying workingmembers, whereas connected to said fixed frame are front and rear wheelaxles, the front one being hinged-joined. The fixed frame mounts theengine and machine control mechanisms.

The working members are brought in contact with the soil and out ofcontact therewith by virtue of a hydromechanical lift which actuates themovable frame.

To fix the working members during harvesting in their bottom-mostposition (i.e., their penetration depth), provision is made for speciallimiting elements (brackets or rods) mounted on the fixed frame andadapted to hold the movable frame in a required position.

With such a design of the machine any accidental oscillations of thefixed frame caused, say, by the ground roughness are inevitably relayedto the working members through the limiting elements, thus adverselyaffecting the accuracy of penetration of the working members into therows of the crop being harvested both in plan and for depth.

in order to reduce the adverse affect of the above disadvantage attemptswere made to provide the machines of the afore-described design with aspecial corrector device to compensate for inaccuracies in the run ofthe working members along the rows of the crops being harvested.However, introducing of such devices and contrivances brings about someconstructional difficulties due to an increased longitudinal base of themachine which impairs the stability thereof. A point not to beoverlooked is that such devices prove to be almost ineffective, sinceprovision of these necessitates the digging members to be mounted moredistantly from the front wheels, this partly increasing the inaccuracyin a correct bringing of the digging members on the rows of the cropsbeing harvested.

Said disadvantages especially impair the quality of harvesting whenemploying wide-cut machines (with an effective width in excess of 2 m),since the effect of the field roughness and curvature of the plant rowsrises in ratio with the effective width of the machine.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a more accuratepenetration of the digging members into the rows of the crops beingharvested at a preset depth of penetration and any slope of the field atthe digging place.

These and other objects have been accomplished by providing in aself-propelled harvester, a fixed carrier frame, whereon the front axleis hinged, and a movable frame carrying working members and hinge-joinedwith the fixed frame nearby the rear axle. Furthermore according to theinvention said hinge-jointing of the movable frame makes it pivotableround the longitudinal and transverse axes of the machine. Additionally,the movable frame is provided with at least one cantilever or anglebracket loosely resting upon a stop block located on the front axle andhaving sections serving as guideways for said cantilever to .verticallyor horizontally travel in response to any variation of the front axleposition.

Use can be made of a cantilever mounted on the movable frame as suchdevice, whereas the stop block can be made as a vertical stand locatedon the front axle and provided with holes made at different heights forsetting the rods therein which are to limit the degree of lowering ofthe movable frame and, consequently, the depth of penetration of theworking members.

The application of the present invention ensures that the steerablefront axle is kinematically associated with the movable frame carryingthe working members which makes it possible to employ the front wheelsas finders to control the position of said working members. Besides, theworking members can be mounted as close to the front wheels as possibleand, consequently, a high degree of accuracy of tracing of themicrorelief both in longitudinal and transverse directions. Moreover,oscillations of the carrier frame do not practically affect the positionof the movable frame, thus excluding the possibility of breakage of theworking members, since when encountering anyunclearable obstacle themovable frame, due to its being loosely mounted in working position, israised and the working member is free to pass over said obstacle.

Finally, the employment of the present invention makes it possible toenhance the maneuverability of the agricultural machine owing to areduction of the distance between the front and rear axles and,consequently, the reduction of its turning radius.

An embodiment of the present invention is described hereinbelow indetail by way of example with due reference to the accompanyingdrawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 represents a schematic diagram of a self-propelled harvestingmachine, according to the invention; and

FIG. 2 shows a diagram of the hinge-jointing of a movable frame.

Now referring to FIG. 1 in the self-propelled harvester of the inventiona fixed frame 1 is connected with a rear axle 2 of the driving wheelsand a front axle 3 of the steerable wheels. The fixed frame 1 mountsalso an engine 4 with the transmission gear-box (not present in thedrawing), machine controls 5 and a drivers seat 6. Hinge-joined with thefixed frame 1 is a movable frame 7 which carries the working members ofthe machine, viz., diggers 8 and root cleaners 9, the former beingmounted as close to the front axle as possible.

The movable frame 7 has two cantilevered arms 10 arranged symmetricallywith respect to the movable frame center line.

The front axle carries stop blocks A, whereon the arms l0 are free torest when in working position. Each of the stop blocks A comprisesessentially two uprights 1 1 provided with holes made at differentheights therein and rods 12 fitted into said holes. Both the uprightsand the rods serve as the guideways for the arms 10 to travel, the rods12 restricting the vertical travel of the arms, thus controlling thepenetration depth of the diggers, and the uprights 11 serving as theguideways for the arms to horizontally travel in response to the turn ofthe front axle 3.

The hinge-jointing of the movable frame 7 is made on the base of aball-and-socket joint 13. To avoid turning of the movable frame 7 in ahorizontal plane, restrictors 14 (FIG. 2) are provided which arearranged symmetrically with respect to the axis of the ball-and-socketjoint 13 and are made as plates 15 held to the frame 1 and rollers 16capable of riding over said plates and fixed to the movable frame 7.

The front steerable axle 3 is connected to the fixed frame 1 by means ofa hinge-joint 17 having a longitudinal pivot. FlG. 1 represents themachine while in harvesting position, with the cantilevered arms 10resting upon the stop blocks A and the working members contacting thesurface of the rows of the crop being harvested. When in travel positionthe working members are brought out of contact with the crop rows byvirtue of a hydraulic lifting jack 18 whose cylinder is articulated tothe fixed frame 1, while its rod is coupled to the movable frame 7.

The herein-disclosed machine operates as follows. The front axle therods 12 are so fitted into the holes of the uprights 11 that when thecantilevered arms 10 drop thereonto the diggers fixed in the movableframe 7 are free to penetrate into the soil for a preset depth. Then byusing the hydraulic lifting jack the movable frame 7 is urged to movedownwards until the arms 10 are free to rest upon the rods 12. While onthe move the driver steers the wheels of the front axle 3 along the rowsof the crop being harvested. When the front wheels move up the row slopethe axle 3 gets tilted with respect to the joint 13 in the plane of theslope, the stop blocks A along whose guideways travel the arms 10,change their position, thus bringing about the corresponding change inthe position of the movable frame 7 which in turn ensures the requiredsetting of the working members. When the front axle 3 is turned tofollow the curvature of the crop rows the arm 10 turns after the turn ofthe front axle 3, thereby providing a corresponding turn of the frame 7in a horizontal plane.

Thus, the movable frame exactly follows both the transverse and thelongitudinal profile of the rows being treated, the preset depth ofpenetration of the diggers remaining unaffected.

What is claimed is:

1. An agricultural self-propelled harvesting machine, comprising: afixed carrier frame; front and rear axles associated with said fixedframe, the front axle being hinge-joined with said frame and determiningthe direction of run of the machine; a movable frame hinge-joined withsaid fixed frame on the side of the rear axle, said hinge-jointingenabling said movable frame to pivot both round the longitudinal and thetransverse axes of the machine; said movable frame being provided withat least one cantilever for said movable frame and said front axle tobring in cooperation in the course of harvesting; at least one stopblock located on the front axle; said stop block being adapted for saidcantilever to freely rest thereupon during the machine operation; saidstop block having sections serving as guideways for said cantilever tohorizontally and vertically travel in response to any variation of thefront axle position as a result of which said working members are freeto follow the relief of the soil being treated in the longitudinal andtransverse planes.

2. A machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein the movable frame has twocantilevers arranged on both sides with respect to the longitudinal axisof the movable frame and freely resting upon the stop blocks each ofwhich comprises essentially two uprights provided with holes made atdifferent heights for fitting the rods keeping said cantilevers inworking position at the required height.

1. An agricultural self-propelled harvesting machine, comprising: afixed carrier frame; front and rear axles associated with said fixedframe, the front axle being hingejoined with said frame and determiningthe direction of run of the machine; a movable frame hinge-joined withsaid fixed frame on the side of the rear axle, said hinge-jointingenabling said movable frame to pivot both round the longitudinal and thetransverse axes of the machine; said movable frame being provided withat least one cantilever for said movable frame and said front axle tobring in cooperation in the course of harvesting; at least one stopblock located on the front axle; said stop block being adapted for saidcantilever to freely rest thereupon during the machine operation; saidstop block having sections serving as guideways for said cantilever tohorizontally and vertically travel in response to any variation of thefront axle position as a result of which said working members are freeto follow the relief of the soil being treated in the longitudinal andtransverse planes.
 2. A machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein themovable frame has two cantilevers arranged on both sides with respect tothe longitudinal axis of the movable frame and freely resting upon thestop blocks each of which comprises essentially two uprights providedwith holes made at different heights for fitting the rods keeping saidcantilevers in working position at the required height.